Condiments

These are a few condiments that I will have in my fridge at all time. We eat them with our meals most of the time.

Pickle Green Chilies

Ingredients:

400 gram green chillies
1 1/2 cup rice vinegar
2 cups boiling water
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar

Cut chillies and soak it in the boiling water for 1 minute. Discard the water. Put the chillies in the jar, pour in the vinegar. Add in the sugar and salt. Mix well. Refrigerate it for a few days before eating it.

I will have them with my noodles especially Sang Har Mee and Ipoh Hor Fun and as for Carlos he will have it with most of his meal and sandwiches.

Chinese Chives Pocket

These chewy and crispy pockets are favorite Chinese snack here in the US. It is filled with ground meat, eggs and garlicky chives. They do sell frozen ones here but I like making these pockets myself as I can add whatever I like into the filling. You can always modify the filling according to your preference like adding tofu, mushrooms to it or omit the meat for vegetarian version. You can also add as much chives as you wish to it too. I even freeze some uncooked ones so I can have it anytime I wanted to. By the way, I will be away from my blog. My sister and I will be visiting Yellowstones , Salt Lake City , Mount Rushmore and Las Vegas . I won't be able to reply to all your comments as I am not taking my laptop with me. If there is anything urgent you can always email me as I will check it daily.

Aiyu Jelly with Lemon and Longan

I remember eating this jelly in Malaysia. There was this lady near my mom house selling it together with her ice-kacang (shave ice) She will mix this soft golden jelly with some syrup and calamansi juice. A perfect thirst-quenching drink that is both healthy and delicious especially having it in our hot tropical afternoon.

So what is Aiyu Jelly? Aiyu jelly is a jelly made from the gel of the seeds of a variety of fig, and is commonly found in Taiwan and Singapore. Aiyu” 愛玉 jelly means fig jelly. To produce it, the aiyu seeds are first placed into a cloth bag and then submerged into cold water. After massaging the bag of seeds, the aiyu seeds will release a gel-like substance, which will eventually turn into jelly through refrigeration. The texture is similar to agar agar and konyanku, and makes a light and refreshing dessert. You can read more about it here .

BBQ Pork Hand Pies/Char Siew Hand Pies

Hand pie is an individual serving of a buttery and flaky pastry stuffed with either sweet or savory filling. This also makes a great portable snack during picnics or small gatherings. These little pies are so versatile that you can use any leftovers meat or even fruit preserve as filling. I like making these and freeze them and when I want to have some I just take it out and let it thaw out on the kitchen counter for 15 minutes and bake it. I made these using some leftover BQ Pork/Char Siew from our previous dinner.

Hong Kong Style Pan-Fried Noodles

This is by far one of my favorite noodle dish and I like can eat it either lunch or dinner. I love the texture of the crispy noodles and it will absorb all the flavor of the sauce. What I like the most about this dish is that you can use whatever ingredients you have on hand for the sauce. There are days I make it into vegetarian version using tofu, mushrooms and veggies and other days I make it into beef version and once a while into all seafood versions. The options are endless. For today I make a mix version using meat and some shrimps.

Ingredients:
(Serve 2)
Half packet of Hong Kong Style Noodles
4 oz flank steak, sliced thinly against the grain (can be chicken or pork too)
8 shrimps, peeled and deveined
4 button mushroom, sliced thinly
2 stalk bok choy, cleaned and cut
1 small carrot – peel and sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 slices fresh ginger

Lemon Curd Pound Cake

I know I have been featuring a lot of recipes using lemons but I can't help it as I have ample supply of Meyer lemons from my neighbor. I came up with this cake with some leftover lemon curd . This rich, buttery pound cake has a nice crunch of toasted almond and both sweet and tart at the same time with the addition of lemon curd on top. Just simply spoon the lemon curd on top of the cake batter and bake. This cake goes really well with a cup of strong coffee. The recipe yield a small cake so if you want a bigger cake, you have to double up the recipe.

Steamed Red Bean Buns/Tau Sar Paus

I’ve been pretty busy for the past one week. Getting the house and guest room ready for my sister arrival. I was going through my pantry and found that I still have a can of red bean paste and it will be expiring soon and also some leftover pau flour. So the best thing to do with is to make some steamed buns, freeze it and when my sister is here we can have it for breakfast. I always prefer savory buns but I don’t mind having these red bean buns as the greedy me packed them up with a lot of red bean paste. I used the dough recipe from Cheah’s of No-Frills Recipes and very happy with the outcome. The dough is soft and easy to handle and it is simple to make too. You can use the same dough to make other sweet and savory fillings.

Chicken Varuval

Have you try taking pictures on a gloomy day? I choose the wrong day to cook this dish but I already marinate the chicken the night before so I have no choice but cook it. I took over 50 shots of this dish but only a handful turns out decent. The rest, dark, blur, out of focus and etc.

Anyway, this is a must order dish for me if I eat at the Nasi Kandar or Indian Rice stall in Malaysia. I just love the taste of this flavorful dish. I’ve been cooking this dish so many times, and each time I tweak the recipe and came up with this. Finally I think I nail the taste of it. I hope you try this out, as I am pretty sure you are going to like it too.

Los Gatos Farmer’s Market

Before moving to Northern California I told Carlos that I want to visit as many farmer’s market as possible here. I always have soft spots for it. I just love looking and buying fresh veggies, fruits and not to mention the bake goodies there. We went to Los Gatos for a day trip last weekend and as usual made a pit stop at the farmer’s market.

It is located at the Downtown Los Gatos, Town Plaza. Adjacent to the Market, this quaint park features a water fountain, blooming flowers, plush greenery, park benches, large lawn area and winding walkways. It is a great way to spend a day there where you can sit in the park eating the goodies you bought from the market accompanied by the live music!! This market is open on Sunday from 8.00am to 1.00pm.

The early season of Cherries